Is your glass half full?

Do you struggle with seeing the good in life? How do you answer the ‘is the glass half-full, or half-empty’ question?

There are factors that influence our outlook on life. Things like personality type, past examples, life experiences and relationships.

No matter what your natural disposition, there is hope for positive change if you tend to be negative.

Each personality type has both strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses are not an excuse to view life with negativity; we can chose to make them an opportunity for growth.

Negative past examples and life experiences can leave us feeling stuck. Wise professional counsel however, can help to set us free from the past, and put us on the right track for a brighter future.

We tend to become like the people we spend time with. So, when it comes to relationships we need to develop meaningful connections with positive people – they become our models. Setting limits with unhealthy people will help to preserve our new way of thinking.

Learning to see the good in life is an intentional choice we can make. It is a habit we can cultivate, though be aware it takes times. When it comes to our brains, we ultimately come to believe the strongest messages – the ones that have played the loudest and most frequent throughout our lives. Experts say it takes 21 days to change a habit, so it won’t happen overnight, (but it will happen).

Some steps to changing your thoughts:

Spot the lie. Recognize all of the negative ‘stuff’ in your head and change it to positive. For example, change “I will never lose weight” to “With some changes to my habits I can lose a kilo a month”.

Create a trigger. Use something you do one or more times each day as a reminder for you to say that new sentence to yourself. Maybe try to relate it to the negative sentence you are trying to change. For example, if it is a self-acceptance issue, try declaring: “I completely and profoundly accept myself” every time you see yourself in the mirror.

Stick to the new self-talk. Your feelings and behaviours will actually start to change.

You will realise your thoughts have positively changed for the better when you realise that your trigger kicks in without you actively needing to remember.

Don’t give up! Change is possible. Transformation does not happen by simply ‘doing’, but by altering what is going on in your mind – your thoughts.

Remember, not every moment in life is a good one, but there is something good in every moment. Be the one who finds it.